Electrical load control system



Get. 8, 1935. E N I 2,016,890

ELECTRICAL LOAD CONTROL SYSTEM Filed April 4, 1933 Inventor: Dewey L. Chesnut,

His Attbrneg.

' Patented Oct. 8, I

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ELECTRICAL LOAD CONTROL SYSTEM Dewey L. Chesnut, Trenton, N. J., assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation or New York Application April 4, 1933, Serial No. 664,364

' 16 Claims. (01. zoo-ii My invention relates to electrical load conmover. it can be made to assume any desired fractrol systems, and more particularly to automation of the mechanical load and thereby reduce tically operated electrical load control systems. the electrical power required by the motor which By load control, I mean to include both the drives this load. Furthermore, if desired and if control of the instantaneous load value, such for the motor can be made to operate in a regenera- 5 example as the control of momentary overloads, tive manner, the power output of the prime mover as well as the control of the integrated load may even be increased to such an extent that it value, such for example as the control of the operates the motor as a generator, thereby to maximum demand. Commercial users of electric pump electrical power back into the power sup- I power are usually subjected to a chargeknown ply circuit or system. 10

as a demand charge, which represents the fixed The prime movers may be of any suitable charges on the electrical equipment which must type, such as steam turbines, internal combustion be kept in readiness to supply their maximum engines or water wheels and they may be coupled power demand. Power demand is usually measto the mechanical load or motor in such a manner ured by the number of kilowatt hours of energy as to run at all times with these devices, or they 5 usedin a given arbitrary time period. Maximum may be coupled to these devices through a clutchpower demand is the power demand of a coning arrangement, such as an overrunning clutch, sumer which cannot be exceeded without subso that whe t prime mover is not needed it jecting the consumer to a new and higher demand can come to rest. charge. By the term mechanical load I wish to be 20 In viewof the above, it is often desirable to understood as including electric generators for provide automatic load control arrangements for Such machines are true mechanical loads on moautomatically preventing the establishment of a t s w ich a driven from a Power pp y new and higher maximum demand, or to lower cuit or system. the level of an existing power demand.- .By the use of one or more prime movers, any 25 Instantaneous load may be controlled by any desired portion of the total load on a power supsuitable control device which responds to the inp y ui y be transferred automatically. stantaneous power flow, or load, in watts while at will, to the prime mover in such a manner as power demand may be controlled by any suitable to control or reduce the electrical load on the time controlled device which also integrates the circuit. 30 n r y demand of the load. Devices of the lat- An bj t of my i t n is t pr v d a n w ter type are of two general classifications, namely, and improved electrical load control system. those which call for a reduction in load or power Another object o y invention i5 to provide a when the maximum demand has been reached load control system in which a Pr mover y and those which control the load or power during be made to ass e directly y desired fraction 35 the demand period in such a manner, as to preof a mechanical load which is normally driven vent the maximum demand from being exceeded. from a motor energized f o all electrical pp y The details of such power demand controllers are oi uii shown by way of example in Figs. 2 and 1, re- My invention will be better understood from 40 spectively, of Pauly Patent No. 1,201,619, which is p the following description taken in connection 40 assigned to the assignee of the present applicawith the accompanying drawing, and its scope tion. a will be pointed out in the appended claims. a

In accordance with my invention. I provide Referring now o the accompanying w I one or more auxiliary prime movers for subhave illustrated therein an embodiment of my stantially directly reducing electrical load. ,Thus, inv n i n a pp d to a p w s pply ys m 45 in almost any cases where electrical poweris Comprising a three-Phase alternating cu n used commercially, there are electric motors for transmission circuit I, wh c i energized through operating mechanical loads, and my i ve tio a power transformer 2 from an alternating curincludes the mechanical coupling of the auxiliary rent generator 3., which is dr y a pr to prime movers to these electric motors or to their mover, shown as a steam turbine 4. Connected loads and so controlling these prime movers from to cicuit l is a load transformer 5 which transany of the above mentioned control devices that mits power to a load or feeder circuit 6. Conthe power output of the prime mover may be nected to load circuit 6 are a plurality of mism varied in a manner to control the electrical load. cellaneous electrical loads shown as a lamp bank Thus by increasing the power output of the prime I, an induction motor 8, a synchronous motor 9, 55

an additional induction motor I8 and an electric furnace II. Motors 8 and 9 have coupled thereto mechanical loads which are shown by way of example as a centrifugal pump l2 and a wood pulp grinder I3, respectively.

Mechanically coupled to motor 8 and pump l2 through a gear reduction l4 and one-way clutch I5 is a. steam turbine I6. The gear reduction I4, which may be omitted if desired, permits the use oi a small, high speed and relatively inexpensive turbine, while the clutch I5, which may also be omitted if desired, allows the turbine to come to rest when it is not in use. Mechanically connected to synchronous motor 8 and grinder I3 through a clutch I1 is a prime mover shown as an internal combustion engine I8.

Connected to be responsive to the total load on circuit 6 is an integrating watthour meter I! which is shown connected to the primary side of transformer 5 in a conventional manner. Meter I9 has a commutator and brush arrangement for producing impulses in a circuit 2| which is connected to drive an energy contact 22 of a contact-making demand meter 23 in the conventional manner. Connected to circuit I through a potential transformer 28 is a circuit 25 for energizing any suitable means for driving a time contact 26 on meter 23. This means may be any suitable type, such for example as a. small synchronous motor which is now often used for driving the time elements of a demand meter. Contacts 22 and 26 are arranged to be moved in a clockwise direction and are periodically reset to given starting positions by the timing mecha nism of the meter after equal intervals of time. When the contacts are reset, contact 26, the time contact, is usually not reset quite as far as the energy contact 22, so that when these two contacts start to move clockwise the time contact has a head start on the energy contact. 6

Contacts 22 and 26 when closed are arranged to energize a contactor or relay 21. This relay has a pair of contacts 28, which when closed by the energization of the relay, complete an energizing circuit for an electromagnetically operated Relay steam admission valve 29 for turbine I6. 21 has an additional set of contacts 30 which are arranged to have a time delayed closing so that they will close a predetermined time after the closure of contacts 28, when the relay is energized. These contacts 38 when closed are adapted to complete an energizing circuit for a relay 3| for controlling the starting of engine I8. As shown, this relay has a pair of contacts which control two parallel circuits, one or which includes a starting motor 32 for engine I8 and the other of which includes the ignition system 33 for the engine I8. Connected in the circuit for energizing the starting motor 32 are a pair of normally closed contacts 34 which are arranged to be opened by a speed responsive centrifugal switch 35 which is arranged to respond The operation 01' the above described embodiment of my invention is as follows:

Assume that turbine 4 is operating generator 3 in a normal manner and that loads "I, 8, 8, III and II are drawing power from generator 3 through transformer 2, transmission circuit I,

transformer 5 and feeder circuit 6. Under these conditions watt-hour meter l9 will be operating and will be sending impulses over circuit 2| to meter 23, thereby to drive the energy contact 22,

Also the timing means for meter 23 will be energized from circuit I through potential transformer 24. Consequently, contacts 22 and 26 will both be moved in a clockwise direction for a predetermined time, after which they will be reset to their original starting positions and will then again move clockwise, the energy contact moving at a rate of speed proportional to the total load on circuit 6 and the time contact moving at a uniform rate, the two contacts being initially separated by a predetermined amount when they are reset. Assume now that the total load I5 will engage and turbine I6 will supply power to the pump I2 and will thereby assume some 01' the load of this pump, thereby relieving the motor 8 from some of its load. If desired, the valve 28 may be so set that the steam input to turbine I6 is sufficient to cause this turbine'not only to drive the pump I2 but also to increase the speed of the pump I2 above the synchronous speed of the motor 8 so as to reverse the slip of motor I and cause it tu act as as induction generator to pump power back into the circuit 6.

If the reduction in total load on circuit I caused by this operation is suflicient, the speed of meter I 9 will be reduced by such an amount that the energy contact 22 will no longer move at a speed as great as the speed of the time contact 26, and consequently these contacts will separate and relay 21 will be deenergized. It, however, the fraction 01' the total load on circuit 3 which is now'being carried by turbine I6 is still insufilcient to cause separation of the contacts of the demand meter. 23, the contacts of relay 2! will be closed in a predetermined time ,and the closure of these contacts will in turn cause the energization of relay 3|. As soon as relay 3| is energized it completes the circuit for energizingthe starter 32 and the ignition system 33 of 00 engine l8 thereby starting this engine. As soon as engine I8 starts and comes up to somewhere near its normal speed, the speed responsive device 35 will open its contacts 34 thereby deenergizing the starting motor 32. As soon as motor 5 I8 reaches a speed which is greater than the speed of grinder I3, and motor 9, clutch I! will engage and engine I8 will assume some of the load of grinder I3, the amount depending upon the throttle setting of the engine. throttle setting may be such as to cause engine I8 to drive motor 9 as a synchronous generator and pump power back into the system.

Probably the simultaneous operation or the Also, if desired, this prime movers l6 and I8 will reduce the eflective 7-? load on circuit 8 'to such a value that the contacts of the demand meter 23 will separate. If not, additional primemovers can be added to the loads. driven by any additional motors connected to the system. It the loads carried by prime movers l6 and I8 are suflicient to cause a separation of contacts 22 and 26 the two prime movers will be shut down because the deenergization of relay 21 l .by the separation of ,the contacts of the meter will cause valve 29 to shut ofi the. steam, for turbine l6 and will cause relay 3| to break the ignition circuit for engine l8. If the contacts oi. the meter 23 do not separate even after prime movers l6 and I8 are operating up to their capacity and if no additional prime movers are supplied, a new maximum demand will probably be established unless during the demand interval the total loads on the circuit 6 fall below a value sufliclent to cause separation of the contacts of the meter. However, if this doesnot occur, the contacts will eventually separate when they are reset to their starting position.

In addition to the above operation, if at any time the power acquired by grinder l3 exceeds the safe loading of motor 9 contacts 31 will close, thereby energizing relay 3| and starting engine I8 which will then assume some of the load of grinder l3 thereby preventing injury or loss of synchronism of motor 9. As soon as this overload is removed contacts 31 will separate and engine l8 will be shut down.

While I have shown and described a particular embodiment of my invention, it will be obvious to'those skilled in the art thatchanges and modifications may be made without departing from my invention, and I, therefore, aim in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of my invention.

What I claim asnew and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In combination, an electric circuit, a load, electrical means for operating said load from said circuit, a prime mover for operating said load, and means responsive to the load on said circuit for controlling the energy input to said prime mover before the load thereon changes.

2. In combination, an electric power circuit,'a load, electrical means for operating said load from said power circuit, a prime mover for directly operating said load, means independent of the speed of said prime mover for varying its power output, and means responsive to the load on said circuit for operating said prime mover power output varying means.

3. In combination, an electric supply circuit,

an electric motor connected to said circuit, a variable mechanical load coupled to said motor, a prime mover, and means responsive to the load on said circuit for initiating a change in power transfer between the prime mover and the mechanical load before said transfer is changed by any other means. 4. In combination, an electric supply circuit, a plurality of individual electric loads connected to said supply circuit, a mechanical load driven by one of said electric loads, a prime mover, and means responsive to the total load on said circuit for causing said prime mover to assume some of said mechanical load.-

5. In combination, an electric supply circuit, a plurality of, variable loads including a motor load connected to said circuit, a mechanical load coupled to said motor, a prime mover coupled to said motor, and means responsive to the total load on said circuit for causing said prime mover to drive said motor as a generator.

6. In combination, an electric supply circuit.

I a contact making integrating demand meter for said circuit, a motor load connected to said circuit, a variable mechanical load driven by said motor, a prime mover mechanically connected to said load, and means .ior causing said contact making integrating demand meter to control the output of said prime mover.

7. In combination, an electric supply circuit, a contact making demand meter for said circuit, an electric motor connected to said circuit, a mechanical load driven by said motor, a steam turbine, an overrunning clutch between said load and said turbine, and means controlled by said contact making meter for controllingthe steam input to said turbine.

8. In combination, an alternating current power supply circuit, a contact making demand meter connected to be responsive to the power demand on said circuit, said meter having a time contact and an energy contact, a plurality of variable loads including an electric motor connected to said circuit, a mechanical load connected to be driven by said motor, a steam turbinefor also driving said load, and means controlled by the contacts of said meter for varying the power output of said turbine.

9. In combination, an alternating current power supply circuit, a contact making demand meter connected to be responsive to the power demand on said circuit, said meter having a time contact and an energy contact, a plurality of variable loads including an induction motor connected to said circuit, a mechanical load connected to be driven by said motor, a steam turbine for also driving said load, and means controlled by the contacts of said meter for varying the power output of said turbine over a range 40 power supply circuit, a contact making demand 45 meter connected to be responsive to the power demand on said circuit, said meter having a time contact and an energy contact, a plurality of variable loads including asynchronous motor connected to said circuit, a mechanical load connected to be driven by said motor, an internal combustion engine for also driving said load, and means controlled by the contacts of said meter for controlling the power output of said engine.

11. In combination, an electric power circuit, an electric motor connected thereto, amechan- 'ical load arranged to be driven by said motor, a prime mover arranged to aid said motor in driving said load, and means responsive to the electric power required by said motor for varying the energy input to said prime mover before the load thereon changes.

12. In combination, an electric power circuit, a plurality of motor loads connected to said circuit, separate loads driven by said motors, separate prime movers connected respectively to help drive said loads, and means responsive to the load on said circuit for sequentially controlling the power output of said prime movers.

13. In an electrical load limiting system, an electric power supply circuit, an electrical load on said circuit including an electric motor for driving a mechanical load, a normally idle prime said mechanical load, and electrical means responsive to a predetermined maximum load on said circuit for causing said prime mover to assist said motor in driving said mechanical load rality of electrical loads connected to said circult including an electric motor for driving a mechanical load, a normally idle prime mover adapted also to drive said mechanical load, an integrating power demand controller responsive to the load on said circuit, said controller being arranged to cause said prime mover to assist said motor in order that the maximum demand of said circuit will not be exceeded.

15. In an electrical load limiting system, an electric power supply circuit, an electric motor connected to said circuit, a mechanical load connected to be driven by said motor, a turbine for aiding said motor in driving said load, and

. connected to said circuit, a mechanical load connected to be driven by said motor, on internal combustion engine for aiding said motor in driving said load, and means responsive to the electrical load on said circuit for controlling the starting and stopping of said engine.

DEWEY L. CHESNUT. 

